he Marathon des Sables is not a race
for would-be athletes or weekend joggers. The six-day, 150-mile foot race across
the Sahara Desert requires competitors to
carry their food and sleeping gear on their
backs in temperatures that can reach 120
degrees. At least two people have died
running it; one time, a racer from Italy hit a
sandstorm and wandered around, lost, for
nine days. Entry fees are steep. Multiple
bloggers state that anyone even considering
running the “marathon of the sands,” the
equivalent of six marathons, must be crazy.
Brian Grossman’s reaction? Bring it on.
Combining self-interest and philanthropy,
Grossman ran the MdS earlier this year to
raise money for Kids in the Game, a Bend,
Ore.-based charity he founded in 2010 to
provide athletic fees for low-income kids
who can’t afford to participate in their local
sports programs.

“I told myself that I’m going to take the whole
idea of a midlife crisis to a midlife ascension,” said Grossman, JD/C’93. “This is
the time of life where people cheat on their
wives, buy motorcycles, etcetera. You can
leave a legacy when you’re dead, but also
when you’re alive.”

Getting in the Game
Married, a successful businessman and firmly into middle age,
Brian Grossman JD/C’93 decided he needed a new challenge.
So he signed up to run the most grueling race in the world.

40 | Willamette Lawyer

Grossman, a veteran of several ultra-long
races, is 6 feet 2 inches. He skis, bikes
and runs, but over the years his weight had
ballooned to 221 pounds. His dad’s reaction
when he told him he was going to run the
MdS: “That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever
signed up for. Why would anyone want to
do that?”
The race had actually been on Grossman’s
to-do list for quite a while. While living abroad
after law school, he had seen a pal of his
running down the hot, steamy streets of
Shanghai with a backpack. When Grossman
asked him what he was up to, his friend
replied he was training for the MdS. Intrigued,
Grossman vowed he’d tackle the race some
day, but it was 15 years before he got to it.